Christmas-tree candle-holder.



No. 778,581. PATENTED DEC, 27, 1904. H. G. HESS.

CHRISTMAS TREE CANDLE HOLDER.

APPLIOATIONTILED AUG. 20, 1904.

UNITED STATES Patented December 27, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHRlSTMAS'-TREE CANDLE-HOLDER.

i SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 778,581, dated December 2'7, 190 1.

Application filed Aug-1s 20, 1904. Serial No. 221,567.

To (oi/Z /2/0122 if 72mg; concern:

Be it known that LIIUGO Gr. Hnss,a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Cincinnati,in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Christmas Tree Candle- Holders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in candle-holders such as are adapted for attachment to Christmas trees to receive the candles commonly employed for the illumination thereof; and the object of the invention is to provide a candle-holder of this character of a simple and inexpensive nature and which shall be of a compact and strong construction having improved means for supporting the candle and for attachment to the tree itself.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved candle-holder whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is rendered simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for use, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure 1 isa side elevation showing a candle-holder constructed according to my invention in use for supporting a candle, andFig. 2 is a sectional View taken vertically through the improved candleholder in a plane parallel with the length of the attaching members by means of which the device is held to the tree. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the improved candle-holder, and Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through the device in a plane at right angles to the plane of the section in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a view showing the contour of the blank from which the candle-engaging member of the device is produced, and Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the candle-engaging member detached from the holder. Fig. 7 is a view showing the contour of the blank from which the upper member of the attaching means is pro: duced, and Fig. 8 is a similar view of the blank from which the lower attaching member is formed.

As shown in the views, 1 indicates the body portion of the improved holder, which is formed up from sheet metal in the nature of a cup or receptacle, the upper edges of which are provided with serrations or points 2 2 and the bottom 3 of which is closed.

4: indicates as a wholethe candle-engaging member, which is held within the cup or receptacle 1 and is preferably formed from a sheet-metal blank of the contour shown in Fig. 5, said blank having at its opposite edges inwardly-extended alined cuts or slits 5 5, whereby the blank is partially divided into three portionsa central portion 6, adapted to lie flat upon the bottom 3 of the cup or receptacle 1 andhaving rounded edges at its ends for close engagement upon the rounded sides of said cup or receptacle, and end portions 7 7, which are bent upward at right angles from said central portion 6 in position to extend upon opposite sides of the candle 09 when the same is in the holder. The opposite edge portions of the end members? 7 are also bent overinward or toward each other, as shown at 8 8 on the drawings, so as to stand in position to engage upon and sink within opposite sides of the lower end of the candle w, as shown clearly in Fig. 3, whereby the said lower end of the candle when engaged in the cup or receptacle will be securely held in position.

The means for attaching the improved candle-holder to the Christmas tree or equivalent support comprises upper and lower attaching members 9 and 10, formed from sheet-metal blanks of the contour shown, respectively, in Figs. 7 and 8, each of such members having an extended end portion or thumb-piece 11, which in the assembled device are located one above another, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that said extensions 11 11 of the respective members 9 and 10 may be conveniently gripped between the thumb and finger of the operator for applying-the device in position or removing it from a twig or branch of the tree, such as is indicated at y in Figs. 1 and 4. The upper attaching member 12 is provided adjacent to that end which is opposite to the extension 11 with outwardly-directed ears or projections 12 12, integrally produced upon and extended from its opposite edges, and said ears or projections 12 are adapted in the assembling of the device to be bent upward so as to be engaged outside of the opposite sides of the cup or receptacle 1, after which the extremities of said ears or projections are pressed into the sides of the cup or receptacle, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 4, whereby the engagement of the said extremities of the ears within the indented sides of the cup or receptacle serves to effectively hold the cup or receptacle in position upon the end of the upper attaching member 9 and also the base of the candle holding or engaging member 4: in the bottom of said cup or receptacle. The attaching members 9 and 10 are also provided with integral serrations 13, bent at right angles to the planes in which the members are extended, so as to be adapted, as indicated in Fig. 1, to engage upon opposite sides of a twig or branch for the effective holding of the device in position to support a candle on the tree, and adjacent to the extensions 11 11' the respective attaching members are provided with integral outwardly-directed arms 1a 14, extended from their opposite edges, which arms are in the assembling of the device adapted to be bent inward within opposite ends of the coil 15 of a spring formed of wire, with ends 16 16, adapted to engage upon the extensions 11 11 of the respective upper and lower attaching members, between which said spring is held. The arms 11, engaged in opposite ends of the spring-coil 15, serve to effectually hold the members for pivotal movement with relation to each other and also hold the spring itself securely positioned between the attaching members without requiring the provision of any extraneous parts or connections, and the spring 15, with ends 16, engaged upon the extensions 11 of the attaching members, serves to efiectively hold the improved device in position with its serrated portions engaged upon the twig or branch of the tree to which the device is applied for use.

The cup or receptacle 1 serves to catch any drippings which would otherwise run from the candle and drop upon the floor-covering and also serves when the candle is burned out to catch and retain the lighted wick, so as to avoid the danger of fire from the dropping of the lighted wick into the tree or onto the floor-covering, and the candle-engaging memberawithin the cup or receptacle serves to effectivelyhold the candle in position within the cup and prevent it from falling laterally, so as to drip grease, or from falling entirely out of said cup or receptacle.

From the above description it will be evident that the improved candle-holder is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and is especially well adapted for use upon Christmas trees and the like, and it will also be obvious from the above description that the device is capable of considerable modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts of the device as herein set forth in carrying out my invention in practice.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A candle-holder comprising a cup or receptacle having means for attachment to a Christmas tree or the like and a candle-engaging member within said cup or receptacle and comprising a central portion rested on the bottom of the cup or receptacle and upwardly directed end portions the opposite edges of which are bent inwardly and are adapted for engagement at opposite sides of a candle to be supported, said cup or receptacle having at opposite sides, portions which are pressed inwardly and beneath which opposite edge portions of the central part of the candle-engaging member are held.

2. In a candle-holder, the combination of a cup or receptacle, an attaching member arranged below the cup or receptacle and integral upwardly extended ears produced at opposite sides of the attaching member and extended at opposite sides of the cup or receptacle with extremities pressed into opposite sides thereof.

3. In a candle-holder, the combination of a cup or receptacle, a candle-engaging member within said cup or receptacle and comprising a central portion or base rested on the bottom of the cup and upwardly-directed end portions the opposite edges of which are bent inwardly and are adapted for engagement with the base of the candle, and an attaching member arranged below the said cup and having lateral ears or arms extended at opposite sides of the cup. with their extremities pressed into the sides of the latter above the central portion or base of the candle-engaging member whereby both the attaching member and the said central portion or base of the candleengaging member are simultaneously held to the bottom of the cup and within the bottom of the cup respectively.

Signed at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 16th day of August, 190 1.

HUGO (Jr. HESS. lVitnesses:

JOHN ELIAS Jones, L. M. Jones. 

